Dragon's Teeth
'' |image= |series= |production=40840-225 |producer(s)= |story= Michael Taylor |script= Michael Taylor Brannon Braga Joe Menosky |director=Winrich Kolbe |imdbref=tt0708879 |guests=Jeff Allin as Gedrin, Ron Fassler as Morin, Robert Knepper as Gaul, Bob Stillman as Turei, Mimi Craven as Jisa, Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman |previous_production= Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy |next_production= Alice |episode=VGR S06E07 |airdate=10 November 1999 |previous_release=Riddles |next_release=One Small Step |story_date(s)=53167.9 (2376/1484) |previous_story=Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy |next_story=Alice }} Summary In a city under attack, Gedrin convinces his nervous wife, Jisa, to enter a stasis chamber and then enters one himself. Voyager is caught in a subspace corridor. A vessel of the Turei species helps Voyager re-enter normal space. When Captain Kathryn Janeway discovers they have traveled more than 200 light years in a few minutes, she requests that the Turei aid them further, but the Turei insist on wiping Voyager's computers of any information regarding the corridor. When Janeway refuses, the Turei ship attacks and summons reinforcements. Janeway has Voyager land on a nearby planet, shrouded in radiation that prevents the Turei from following them. The crew begins repairs while the Turei remain in orbit. The planet contains the remains of a civilization that was destroyed nearly 900 years earlier. Detecting lifesigns, Janeway, Lt. Tuvok, and Seven of Nine discover stasis chambers, containing several hundred alien bodies. Seven, without waiting for Janeway's orders, wakes Gedrin. Jisa's body has decomposed and Gedrin mourns the loss of his wife. Recovering aboard Voyager, Gedrin explains that his race, the Vaadwaur, discovered the subspace corridors and were attacked by other races who wished to seize them. He and hundreds of other Vaadwaur, along with their weapons and ships, entered stasis in caverns below the planet's surface, anticipating being revived five years later, but their control equipment was apparently damaged. Gedrin struggles with how much time has passed. The Vaadwaur were familiar with Neelix's species, the Talaxians; Neelix recognizes the term "Vaadwaur" as an old Talaxian word meaning "foolish." Janeway and Gedrin plan to fight off the Turei and return to the subspace tunnels, and proceed to waken the other Vaadwaur; Commander Chakotay is reminded of a Greek myth whereby warriors would rise after the teeth of a defeated dragon were buried in the ground. Neelix and Seven research the Vaadwaur in Talaxian folklore and a Borg database, discovering that the Vaadwaur were the aggressors, using their subspace corridors to invade planets; Neelix informs Janeway. Meanwhile, Voyager's crew are unaware that the Vaadwaur plan to hijack Voyager in order to conquer a new colony for themselves. Gedrin warns Janeway, siding with Voyager's crew against his own people. After the Vaadwaur turn openly hostile, Janeway allies with the Turei. Tuvok and Gedrin return to the planet to jam a satellite, allowing the Turei to use it to target the Vaadwaur ships. After Tuvok returns to the ship, Gedrin stays behind to maintain the signal; he is killed when the chamber collapses. Voyager escapes and leaves the sector. They detect that 53 Vaadwaur ships escaped the Turei assault and could threaten them in the future. Seven apologizes for causing the new war by waking Gedrin, but Janeway notes she might have done the same. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Richie Vest If Janeway thought there might be survivors how come she did not bring the Doctor along the initial away team. He was probably carrying out prep work back on Voyager. # Corey Hines on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 7:01 pm: Odd that there would still be radiation after 892 years after the war. LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 12:20 am: Depending on what materials are used in their weapons, or what kind of waste was produced in manufacturing them, radiation can last tens of thousands of years. # Amazing. After being asleep for 892 years, after the alien was awaken, he can immediately stand and walk around. One would think he needed a few days for his body to learn how to do that again. Anonymous on Thursday, November 11, 1999 - 12:56 pm: Regarding the aliens' ability to simply climb out of their stasis pods and walk around without having to go through some extensive physical therapy... It's possible that the pods also stimulate their muscle while the aliens are in stasis. In this case, the body wouldn't know it hadn't walked in 900 years. LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, June 09, 2001 - 12:20 am: I think what the stasis chambers do is just that: It keeps them in stasis so that they’re muscles, bones, etc. don’t atrophy. If they did atrophy, then the person inside would eventually die, and that would defeat the whole purpose of calling it a stasis chamber. ' # ''Derek on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 8:14 pm: I don't understand Janeway's big fuss over opening the tube. I mean weren't they eventually going to open the thing anyway? '''She wanted all the correct safety checks to be completed first! # I find it hard to believe that Neelix doesn't have a password for his personal database. ScottN on Thursday, November 11, 1999 - 5:39 pm: Someone wondered why Neelix's personal DB wasn't password protected. Maybe personal DBs are voice-coded. ''' # Janeway says "Phasers full spread"--usually torpedoes are fired full spread. '''This could be a references to wide angle beams. # I'm a bit surprised that the Vod'Wahr ships even scratch Voyager's paint. (It's like a WWI biplane vs. an F-16.) Mandy on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 8:31 pm: ST is always making this mistake. Just because a civilization's old doesn't mean its technology is obsolete. Species develop at different times and at different rates. Why shouldn't a 900-yr-old fighter be a threat to 24th century Federation technology? The implication is that there is "some great timeline" all developments are supposed to correlate to when that doesn't make much sense for civilizations separated by thousands of lightyears. Chris Marks on Friday, November 12, 1999 - 5:28 am: A WW1 biplane could stand a chance against an F-16. There's virtually nothing to get a missile lock on (IR or Radar), cannon fire would have to be very accurrate to hit a vital part on it, and the biplane's got a lower stalling speed and can turn much more tightly. The biplane has a larger target, with more vital areas. It's not much of a chance, but its better than none at all. There's a difference between antique and obsolete. # Shane Tourtellotte on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 8:14 pm: Would the ruins of a city stand up that well for 892 years? Donna Littleford on Thursday, November 11, 1999 - 11:13 am: About the 900 year old ruins. We have 900 year old Norman ruins still standing. ''' # The Vadwar promise to get Voyager a thousand light-years closer to Earth. They should be able to do better than that. They got all the way to Talaxia, which is now tens of thousands of light-years away. ''Mandy on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 8:31 pm:'' Oh, I don't know. Perhaps the corridors go more in one direction than another. There's no reason to suspect the Vardwar are in the middle of the structures or that they explored equally in all directions. ' # How is there a Talaxian linguistic file in Voyager's computer, when they are a new species to the Federation? Conceivably, Neelix could have transferred one from his old ship's computer, but then, why would a scrap trader have had such a thing in his files? 'Steve Oostrom on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 10:04 pm:''As for Neelix being a scrap trader with the database he had, I think it's reasonable. The linguistic database is probably part of his universal translator, and traders do have to talk with others. As for the literature, it's probably there to allow him to pass the time during those long periods of flight on his ship. Somehow, though, they got information from other races in the area that correlated the new impression of the Vod'Wahr from Neelix's story. Did all of that come from Seven? ''Anonymous on Thursday, November 11, 1999 - 5:20 pm: Someone wrote: I was surprised that so much of that Talaxian info was in the computer. I suppose that Neelix had a database on his original ship, or that they may have gotten the info from Talax, but why not say where they got it? They did. Neelix is in the mess hall and he uses to computer to access his Talaxian database.' # ''Steve Oostrom on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 10:04 pm: Would a nuclear winter last almost 1000 years? I doubt it, unless perhaps the planet was so blasted that that absolutely nothing would remain of the planet. Depends on the composition of the weapon. # Strange how these underground vaults with the new technobabble material making up the structure survived the first attack but not the second one nine hundred years later. Maybe the weapons were more advanced the second time. # Ryan Smith on Wednesday, November 10, 1999 - 11:42 pm: How does the Voyager crew know that a Federation standard year is the same as a Vaadwahr year? It's possible that the planet could have really long years, in which case the 900-year comment is meaningless. Chris Marks on Friday, November 12, 1999 - 5:28 am: The year of a planetary object is actually the length of time it takes to orbit its primary object (in our case the sun, but the moon would have a 'year' of about thirty days). Any ships standard procedure would almost certainly be to determine the orbital velocity, distance from primary etc on the way to the planet (if they don't, the planet might run them over!:-)), so the crew probably worked out the time based on that. # mei on Wednesday, June 21, 2000 - 12:06 pm: Regarding all that debris in the subspace corridors: did we actually see Voyager dodging it? I don't remember too much swerving. '''Jwb52z on Wednesday, June 21, 2000 - 12:32 pm: Mei, the navigational deflector and the main deflector dish and the shields would make most dodging unnecessary. ''' Category:Episodes Category:Voyager